West Texas: Big Bend, Marfa and Fort Davis

El Paso to Marfa

El Paso International Airport to Van Horn on I-10, then US 90 past Prada Marfa to Marfa; the Marfa Lights Viewing Area after dark

• Lunch in Van Horn and welcome dinner
• Nuit : Marfa
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in Van Horn, about two hours on. From there US 90 runs southeast along the railway through ranch country, and outside the hamlet of Valentine we stop at Prada Marfa, a sealed shop front built in 2005 by the artists Elmgreen and Dragset, alone by the highway. Somewhere along this road the clock jumps an hour to Central Time.

Soir

We reach Marfa in the late afternoon, check in and meet for a welcome dinner. After dark we drive about 15 minutes east to the Marfa Lights Viewing Area, where people have reported unexplained lights over the Mitchell Flat for more than a century. Some nights they appear and some nights they do not; the stars are worth the trip either way.

Compris

• Pick-up at El Paso International Airport (ELP)
• Lunch in Van Horn
• Prada Marfa
• Welcome dinner in Marfa
• The Marfa Lights Viewing Area after dark

Marfa: Chinati and Donald Judd

Marfa: the Chinati Foundation, then the Judd Foundation in town

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Marfa
• Environ 18 min de route

Matin

This morning a Chinati guide takes us through its permanent works: 100 untitled boxes in mill aluminium, each a different arrangement of the same outer size, lined up in two former artillery sheds whose garage doors Judd replaced with long windows, so the boxes change with the light. Outside, 15 large concrete works run across the grass in a line about a kilometre long.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in town. In the afternoon the Judd Foundation shows us part of Judd's own home and studio in Marfa, where he set out his furniture, books and art exactly as he wanted them kept.

Soir

The evening is free to walk the town's galleries, bookshops and bars, most of them within a few blocks of the Presidio County Courthouse.

Compris

• Guided tour of the Chinati Foundation, including the 100 aluminium works and the outdoor concrete works
• Sit-down lunch in Marfa
• Guided tour of the Judd Foundation in Marfa

Fort Davis and the star party

Marfa to Fort Davis, then the Davis Mountains and the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center; McDonald Observatory in the evening

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Fort Davis
• Environ 2 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is in Fort Davis, a small town with old stone and adobe buildings along its main street, and the afternoon is free to rest at the hotel.

Soir

We eat an early dinner together, because the evening is the reason for this stop. About 30 minutes up TX 118, McDonald Observatory stands on Mount Locke at about 2,070 m, in one of the darkest skies in the continental US. At the star party, astronomers point out constellations and planets with a laser and let us look through telescopes. Dress warmly: it is cold up there even in April.

Compris

• Skyline Drive in Davis Mountains State Park
• Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens
• Sit-down lunch in Fort Davis
• Early dinner in Fort Davis
• McDonald Observatory star party

Activités en option

• The McDonald Observatory daytime tour, with a look at the large research telescopes (price shown at booking)

Fort Davis to Big Bend and Santa Elena Canyon

Fort Davis National Historic Site, then Alpine and TX 118 to Study Butte; Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to Santa Elena Canyon; Terlingua

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Terlingua
• Environ 4 h de route

Après-midi

Then we drive south through Alpine and down TX 118, about two hours of open desert with almost no phone signal, to Study Butte for a sit-down lunch and a rest in the heat. In the late afternoon we enter Big Bend National Park and take the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive past the Mule Ears and Tuff Canyon to Santa Elena Canyon, where the Rio Grande comes out of a slot about 450 m deep, with Mexico on the far wall. The trail climbs paved steps, then follows the river into the canyon until the walls close in. We return on the gravel Old Maverick Road. At about four hours, this is a full driving day.

Compris

• Fort Davis National Historic Site
• Sit-down lunch in Study Butte
• Big Bend National Park entry
• Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive with stops at the Mule Ears and Tuff Canyon overlooks
• Santa Elena Canyon trail with your guide

The Chisos Basin, the Hot Springs and Terlingua

Terlingua to the Chisos Basin and the Window Trail, then east to the Hot Springs on the Rio Grande; back to the Terlingua ghost town

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Terlingua
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is in the Basin. In the afternoon we drive east to the Hot Springs, where a short path passes an old post office and the ruins of an early bathhouse to a stone pool at the edge of the Rio Grande, fed by a spring at about 40 C. Soak with Mexico a few metres away across the river. On the way back we stop at an overlook into Boquillas Canyon if time allows.

Soir

We end the day in the Terlingua ghost town, a mercury-mining town left almost empty in the 1940s, for sunset over the Chisos and a farewell dinner.

Compris

• The Window View Trail or the Window Trail in the Chisos Basin with your guide
• Lunch in the Chisos Basin
• The Hot Springs historic district and a soak in the spring
• Sunset in the Terlingua ghost town
• Farewell dinner

Activités en option

• Crossing the Rio Grande by rowboat to the village of Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico, through the official port of entry (passport needed; price shown at booking)

Terlingua to Midland

Terlingua to Alpine on TX 118, US 67 to Fort Stockton, then I-20 to Midland International Air and Space Port

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive north on TX 118 across the desert to Alpine, a college town with good coffee, for a stop of about half an hour.

Après-midi

From there we cross the high grassland to Fort Stockton, where a sit-down lunch splits the day, and we look at Comanche Springs, now dry, which once fed a frontier fort and the Comanche trail north. The last stretch runs across the oil country of the Permian Basin, flat and busy with pump jacks, to Midland International Air and Space Port (MAF), arriving about 3:30 pm. Your guide sees you to the terminal before saying goodbye. If you are flying on to San Antonio for our Hill Country trip, flights connect through Dallas or Houston.

Compris

• Coffee stop in Alpine
• Sit-down lunch in Fort Stockton
• Drop-off at Midland International Air and Space Port (MAF)